A huge and welcome relief to the book lovers of Hyderabad in the times when everyone is struggling with cash! The Hyderabad Book Fair management announced that they would accept old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. The Book Fair is all set to kick start from December 15 at NTR Stadium.
Many states such as Maharastra, 350 publication houses faced the negative effects of Demonetisation as sales reduced drastically at book fairs. But the Hyderabad Book Fair Society is estimating a 10 to 15 percent drop in footfall and the sales compared to every year. P. Rajeshwar Rao, treasurer of Hyderabad Book Fair Society said in a press interview, all the stalls and publishers will be accepting old notes. The Hyderabad Book Fair is celebrating its 30th year in the city. This is the first time that the fair is being held for 12 days.
To make the transactions easier and convenient for the seller and purchaser the organizers have advised all publishers setting up their stall to have PoS machines. During this book fair every year, an ATM is placed on the premises in the NTR Stadium. But this year Hyderabad Book Fair society has joined hands with the Reserve Bank of India and is arranging two ATMs that will cater solely to the customers. Every year various language book stalls are opened at this book fair. Last year there were 370 stalls, but this year the Hyderabad Book Fair society received only 300 applications for stalls. However, organizers do not attribute the fall in the number of stalls to Demonetisation.
In order to attract more people to the fair this year, the management has decided to organize cultural programs, competitions, and also book release functions during the fair. The entry is free for students and for children it is priced at Rs. 5.
